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Minnehaha County authorizes state's attorney to pursue injunctive action over property alleged to operate outside zoning
Summary
The commission voted 4-1 to let the State's Attorney's Office file an injunctive action and to allow the office to settle or terminate the action without returning to the board; the planning office had determined the property to be a nuisance and outside the county's comprehensive zoning ordinance.
Eric Bogues of the State's Attorney's Office told the commission the office sought authorization to file an injunctive action related to a property the planning office found to be a nuisance and operating outside Minnehaha County's comprehensive zoning ordinance.
"The resolution ... allows this office to terminate or resolve it at any point after it started without necessity of coming back here for further action," Bogues said, explaining the practical need to streamline potential litigation steps.
Commissioner (speaker 2) asked whether planning staff should exhaust administrative remedies before litigation; Bogues replied he did not think sequencing mattered in this case and said concurrent pursuit of abatement and litigation was not necessarily detrimental. Following a motion by Commissioner (speaker 5) to approve, the commission voted 4-1, with one commissioner recorded as opposed.
The resolution provides the State's Attorney's Office authority to commence civil injunctive proceedings; the transcript records the county's concern that the property is not conforming to the comprehensive zoning ordinance, but it does not identify the property or provide an ordinance citation.
What happens next: The State's Attorney's Office is authorized to file the injunctive action and may negotiate settlement or dismissal without returning to the commission, per the resolution.
